A Few Minutes
by Keija
Summary: Tony/Michelle, AUish. A few minutes shared between two of my favourite agents.


Author: Katryn Leigh (katsi@acidik.net) Title: A few minutes (1/1 - ficlet-ish story.) Category: Tony/Michelle, ficlet.  
  
Summary: A little ficlet-type story set in whichever hour of the day you think it fits (as long as it's after Mason's death). No real spoilers, just for fun & written in a half hour.  
  
CTU, Los Angeles.  
  
It seemed to take an incredible amount of energy to make her way up the stairs to Tony's office. For the first time, Michelle wished Tony was still using his desk down in the bullpen. She pushed open the door without knocking, her hands full with coffee, and walked into the room. Tony was rummaging loudly through the drawers in the desk, cursing under his breath in Spanish. He looked up when Michelle closed the door behind her and a slight smile appeared for her benefit.  
  
"Problem?" she asked as she joined him at the desk, placing the two cups to one side and hopping up to sit on the edge. "Besides the obvious ones?"  
  
"I can't believe George doesn't have aspirin," Tony growled, rubbing his temples. The exhaustion from the days events was clear on his face, Michelle suspected the same thing was visible on her own. It'd had been a long day and it wasn't over yet.  
  
"Bottom right," Michelle nodded, indicating the bottom drawer. "Right at the back, usually."  
  
Tony followed her directions and located a large bottle of aspirin, half full, exactly where she'd said it would be. He looked at her, lifting an eyebrow in a silent question.  
  
"I had constant headaches about a month and a half ago," Michelle shrugged. "Mason was forever feeding me aspirin when I ran out." Concern for her glinted in his eyes where sadness for Mason showed in hers, but today wasn't the time to ask about the headaches or to mourn their colleagues and friends. Chaos controlled CTU today.  
  
She handed him one of the cups of coffee she'd brought up and he took the aspirin. "Are you holding up okay?" she asked him quietly as she slipped off the desk and walked behind him. He was turning to see where she was going when her hands touched his shoulders, expertly starting to massage the tension out of his shoulders.  
  
"Uh huh," he murmured. Michelle sneaked a look at his face; his eyes were closed and he'd leant back in his chair. A soft smile appeared on her face. The only good thing to come out of today was the moments she'd spent with Tony after they'd agreed to have dinner when this was over. But she knew he was her boss and she knew that since he'd been given Mason's job, their potential relationship was looking a lot less potential. He wasn't allowed to date his employees.  
  
She focussed more fully on Tony, trying to put out of her mind the fact that things would never work out the way she wanted them too. It was over and it hadn't even begun.  
  
It was the first time he'd relaxed at all in hours; Michelle's gentle touch was chasing away the remnants of his headache and he opened his eyes to look at her. Sadness seemed to be hiding in the depths of her blue eyes, sadness that had nothing to do with the colleagues that they'd lost.  
  
"Hey," he said softly, turning his head to look at her and catching her hand in his, stilling her actions for a moment. "Are you okay? I know it's been a long, difficult day for all of us."  
  
"I'm fine," Michelle's response seemed automatic. She moved away, pulling her hand away from his and avoiding his eyes. "Drink the coffee." She gestured to the cup, a gentle smile on her face. "I'm going to check how everyone's getting on." She moved a step towards the door. Tony rose to his feet when she moved, her smile hadn't touched her eyes and he was worried about her.  
  
He caught up with her before she reached the door. "Michelle, what's wrong?"  
  
"Nothing's wrong, Tony. I'm just tired, we all are, and there's a lot still left to do."  
  
"You're lying," Tony said quietly, hurt in his eyes.  
  
The hurt in his eyes affected her in a way she couldn't ignore. What she felt for him she wasn't sure, but she knew she didn't want to walk away even if she had to. She sighed and met his eyes. "Now's not the time," she told him softly. "We can talk about it later."  
  
"Michelle ."  
  
"Later," she repeated, avoiding his touch when he reached out to her again.  
  
"You regret it, don't you. What you said before downstairs." He sounded resigned.  
  
"No!" Michelle looked up at him in alarm. "God, no." She lifted a hand and touched his cheek, feeling the beginnings of stubble grazing her fingers. She needed to be working, she knew that, things wouldn't wait for them to catch up but sometimes, she just needed a minute away. "Tony, I meant what I said before, you know I do."  
  
"Then what's going on, Michelle?" Tony drew her into his arms and hugged her, feeling her brief initial resistance fade away as she relaxed against him, her head resting against his shoulder. After a moment she lifted her head and looked at him.  
  
"You've taken Mason's job," Michelle said wearily. "We can't do this . protocol, Tony."  
  
Tony looked at the slender woman he held; a woman who's face he'd seen nearly every day for a year as she worked besides him, a woman he trusted and who he suspected he was beginning to love, as hard as he'd fought against it. She would back off and walk away if he asked, he knew that. And he didn't want her to go anywhere.  
  
"Screw protocol," he told her firmly. "Michelle," he searched for the words to tell her what he wanted to. She looked back at him steadily, her eyes showing her vulnerability right now. "I need you more than I need this job. I'm not giving up on us, I don't care what the protocols are."  
  
"Tony ." she didn't want to fight him on this one, but she desperately wanted to keep him out of trouble as much as she could. And continuing forwards on this path was definitely trouble.  
  
Tony didn't bother arguing with her any further, he kissed her instead.  
  
'Screw protocol' was what Tony said, but it was far easier to do and to say than it was to live with the consequences. She had the whole thing worked out in her head, she could make herself stop this now before she got so involved with Tony that she couldn't walk away. She had everything worked out . until he kissed her. And then her plan went to hell.  
  
She needed him, she couldn't help it. In a life as chaotic as theirs were, she'd learnt that sometimes you only got moments and you had to take them. She melted into him, wrapping her arms around his neck as he pulled her closer. When they finally broke apart, she was lost.  
  
"I can't walk away from this now," she whispered to him.  
  
"I don't want you to," he whispered back, kissing her gently on the forehead. "I know this is going to be difficult Michelle, but I'm not giving up on what we have."  
  
"We don't even know what that is," Michelle muttered as she let her head fall back against his shoulder. She was so tired, physically and emotionally drained, with no time to rest. If she closed her eyes she thought she'd fall asleep on her feet.  
  
"We deserve the chance to find out," Tony pointed out quietly. "Whatever Division say, it doesn't matter. We'll be okay if we stick together."  
  
She believed him, she couldn't stop herself. She wanted it to be okay. She wanted Tony.  
  
"Okay," she gave in. He smiled at her and she smiled back. She glanced reluctantly at the door. "I should go down and see how everyone's getting on."  
  
Tony kissed her again before he let go. She felt the loss immediately.  
  
"Take a few minutes, okay?" she placed a hand against his chest, feeling his heart beating beneath her fingers. The steady beat calmed her. "I know you're the boss, but you've been through just as much as the rest of us."  
  
She was always looking out for him. "I'll take a few minutes if you do the same."  
  
"This was my few minutes," she teased him. "But they were very well spent minutes."  
  
"Then take a few more," he trailed his fingers along her cheek, in much the same was as she had done to him a few moments ago. "I worry about you. I don't want to lose you too."  
  
"You won't lose me," she promised him. "We're both going to get through this day."  
  
When he nodded she caught his hand and squeezed gently. She waited for the answering squeeze before she pulled open the door and headed back to her desk. As she sat down, she knew her life had just changed again. Automatically she looked for Tony at the desk across from hers before she looked up at the office instead. Tony was on the phone, but his dark eyes were watching her. She gave him a reassuring smile and then put her focus back on her work.  
  
Somewhere out there were terrorists and it was their job to find them.  
  
Everything else would have to wait. 


End file.
